Best-selling Author Janet Esposito brings more than a decade of experience helping people learn to speak and perform with calm and confidence. In Getting Over Stage Fright, Janet offers a new, holistic approach to this age-old problem, sharing a wide array of principles and practices to help you create the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being you need to get beyond your speaking or performing fear. This book is especially helpful to those who have moderate to high levels of performance anxiety, though it can also help those who have a milder case of the jitters. It will help you in all types of speaking or performing situations, ranging from the most casual to the most formal. It will also help you reduce and better manage any anticipatory anxiety you have before stepping up to speak or perform.

Here is a book for everyone who dreads speaking in public.

Stage fright is one of the human psyche's deepest fears. Over half of British adults name public speaking as their greatest fear, even greater than heights and snakes. Laurence Olivier learned to adapt to it, as have actors Salma Hayek and Hugh Grant. Musicians such as Paul McCartney and Adele have battled it and learned to cope. Playing Scared is Sara Solovitch's journey into the myriad causes of stage fright and the equally diverse ways we can overcome it. As a young child, Sara studied piano and fell in love with music. As a teen, she played Bach and Mozart at her hometown's annual music festival, but was overwhelmed by stage fright, which led her to give up aspirations of becoming a professional pianist. In her late fifties, Sara gave herself a one-year deadline to tame performance anxiety and play before an audience. She resumed music lessons, while exploring meditation, exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, biofeedback and beta blockers, among many other remedies. She practiced performing in airports, hospitals and retirement homes. Finally, the day before her sixtieth birthday, she gave a formal recital for an audience of fifty. Using her own journey as inspiration, Sara has written a thoughtful and insightful cultural history of performance anxiety and a tribute to pursuing personal growth at any age.

In The Musician's Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide aspiring musicians with a roadmap to artistic excellence. Part I, Artful Practice, describes strategies to interpret and memorize compositions, fuel motivation, collaborate, and more. Part II, Fearless Performance, lifts the lid on the hidden causes of nervousness and shows how musicians can become confident performers. Part III, Lifelong Creativity, surveys tactics to prevent music-related injuries and equips musicians to tap their own innate creativity. Written in a conversational style, The Musician's Way presents an inclusive system for all instrumentalists and vocalists to advance their musical abilities and succeed as performing artists.

The last time you whistled a tune or hummed a song-why did you choose that one? You may not consider yourself a musical person, but your little act of unintended music may be the key to unlocking within you a wealth of unsuspected creativity-a kind of creativity that goes way beyond music, too. Lane Arye, PhD, a musician himself, focuses on the music that people do not intend to make. Using the highly regarded psychological model called Process Work, developed by Arnold Mindell, PhD, Arye has been teaching students around the world how to awaken their creativity, using music as the starting point, but including all art forms and ways of expression. The unintentional appears at moments when some hidden part of us, something beyond our usual awareness, suddenly tries to express itself. If we start paying attention to what is trying to happen rather than to what we think should happen, we open the door to self-discovery and creativity. Sometimes what we regard as "mistakes" in self-expression are in fact treasures. The book is rich with real-life stories, ideas, and practical techniques for unlocking creativity, which Arye dispenses with humor, insight, and enthusiasm.

Why is it that well-prepared, talented, hardworking, and intelligent performers find their performance and self-esteem undermined by the fear of memory slips, technique failures, and public humiliation? In Managing Stage Fright: A Guide for Musicians and Music Teachers, author Julie Jaffee Nagel unravels these mysteries, taking the reader on an intensive backstage tour of the anxious performer's emotions to explain why stage fright happens and what performers can do to increase their comfort in the glare of the spotlight. Examining the topic from her interdisciplinary educational, theoretical, clinical, and personal perspectives, Nagel uses the music teacher/student relationship as a model for understanding the performance anxiety that affects musicians and non-musicians alike. Shedding new light on how the performer's emotional life is connected to every other facet of their life, Managing Stage Fright encourages a deeper understanding of anxiety when performing. The guide offers strategies for achieving performance confidence, emphasizing the relevance of mental health in teaching and performing. Through the practices of self-awareness outlined in the book, Nagel demonstrates that it is possible and desirable for teachers to assist students in developing the coping skills and attitudes that will allow them to not feel overwhelmed and powerless when they experience strong anxiety. Each chapter contains insights that help teachers recognize the symptoms-obvious, subtle, and puzzling-of the emotional grip of stage fright, while offering practical guidelines that empower teachers to empower their students. The psychological concepts offered, when added to pedagogical techniques, are invaluable in music performance and in a variety of life situations since, after all, music lessons are life lessons.

Come for a visit in Bear Country with this classic First Time Book® from Stan and Jan Berenstain. It’s time for the school play, Grizzlystiltskin, and Sister is playing the Princess! But when she gets a bad case of stage fright, will it be curtains for her, or will she be a big hit? This beloved story is a perfect way to teach children about nerves and rising above adversity.

Master your anxiety and regain your freedom to drive, travel, and do everything else that panic has taken from you, with proven techniques and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) exercises. Panic attacks trick millions of people into fearing disaster and giving up so many of the activities they used to enjoy without fear. This practical workbook full of proven strategies and helpful advice on how to master your anxiety and panic is here to help you reclaim your life. Author and clinical psychologist David Carbonell, PhD, uses his extensive clinical experience to help you understand the true nature of your panic attacks, including the vicious cycle of habitual responses that lead to debilitating attacks, how you can halt this self-destructive process, and the many ways you can start on a step-by-step journey that promotes recovery. Inside you’ll find helpful methods from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that will help you regain the life you want to live, including: Diaphragmatic breathing Progressive exposure Desensitization Mindfulness meditation Keeping a panic diary Quieting the voice of anticipatory worry Stepping out of the struggle with panic And much more! Now you can regain all of the freedoms you enjoyed before panic invaded your life with the research-backed charts, worksheets, and programs featured in Panic Attacks Workbook.

50 Scientifically-Supported Techniques to Create More Confident and Compelling Speakers

While other texts provide general information on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), this is the first book to make a wider, inclusive examination of the disorders that appear to be closely linked to OCD (i.e., body dysmorphic disorder, trichotillomania, Tourette's syndrome, etc.) and review the diagnostic, biological, and treatment issues surrounding their relationship. Obsessive-Compulsive Related Disorders discusses the way compulsivity and impulsivity are studied and understood in the diagnosis and treatment of these obviously related disorders -- should they be diagnosed by categories, or in the context of dimensional models? Subsequent chapters also examine serotonin's role in these psychiatric disorders.